Deliberate Leadership

Francis is a widely considered a good leader. His peers agree, and he is relatively successful at work. Every morning Francis goes to the gym, has a good workout, and gets to work early. He says hello to his people and sits down at his computer to check email and to see what the day has in store. He responds to a few late emails, adds additional tasks to his growing list, and starts to work from the top of the list.
Like many of us, Francis is not very deliberate in his approach to his daily work life, which means he is not able to practice deliberate leadership. He is almost entirely reactive and is only working to keep his head above water. Many of us are very familiar with this life. We have seen it before. Whether in our own lives or in the lives of our peers.
What do you do about it? You must change your frame of mind. From reactionary to deliberate. The difference is like being pulled by unknown forces in an unknown direction (reactionary) to purposefully deciding what direction to go in and taking action to support that decision. Once this frame of mind has been adjusted, you will stop feeling like you are in a boat without a paddle, but will feel like you have a new engine and can do what you want. You will feel empowered and in control.
One of the keys to this is to communicate. Communicate with your key team members. They are essential to determining the vision of your organization or section. Once you have developed a vision or mission, talk to your boss, so she knows your vision and direction. You must get the green-light from the leader of the organization because she is responsible for the overall performance of the organization and will want to ensure your vision is in line and supports the organization’s vision.
The best way to get started is to dedicate a certain amount of time to focus and work extra hard to clear your plate of all work and projects. You will want a clean slate to start. Once you have a relatively clean slate, you will be able to have the flexibility to work different things that are aligned with your new vision. Create goals and a strategy to be able to reach your new vision. The goals and strategy are a must to get the team on the same page. Finally, communicate with everyone as much as possible. Your people should be very familiar with the strategy, vision, and goals. Take every opportunity to reinforce your message.
Being deliberate means taking control of the organization or whatever piece you can control and not letting it determine everything you do. You must take control and deliberately develop your employees. You must deliberately drive the culture of the organization. Take small, deliberate steps. Your people will follow if it is important and they know “why” you are doing it. The “why” of your efforts must be a good reason.